SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea has opened a nationwide computer programming competition aimed at cultivating talents to lead the country’s information and technology development, a propaganda outlet said Tuesday. A semifinal for the competition, organized by the Kimchaek University of Technology, took place between Nov. 5-15, with the final match slated to [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — Many North Korea watchers were doubtful when Kim Jong-un, then 27, took over the Hermit Kingdom in December 2011 following the sudden death of his father, Kim Jong-il. A decade later, apparently, few question Kim’s grip on power, despite a host of challenges, such as its moribund economy, amid [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — More than four out of 10 North Koreans are suffering from undernourishment, a recent U.N. report showed, as the impoverished country struggles from chronic food shortages. According to the report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 10.9 million people, or 42.4 percent of North Korea’s total population, were [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has lost around 20 kilograms after previously weighing about 140 kg, but he appears to have no health issues, South Korea’s spy agency was quoted as saying Thursday. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) gave the briefing during a closed-door parliamentary session, rejecting rumors that [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — Only 44 percent of South Koreans think that reunification with North Korea is necessary, a survey showed Tuesday. According to the poll of 1,200 adults by the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies (IPUS) at Seoul National University, 44.6 percent replied that unification is necessary, recording the lowest percentage [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea has developed an artificial intelligence-based translation program with enhanced speed and accuracy, a propaganda outlet reported Sunday. DPRK Today, a propaganda website, carried a report introducing the research result of the AI institute of Kim Il-sung University on the creation and introduction of Ryongma, an AI technology-based [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — A civic group advocating for national reunification called Saturday for the lifting of South Korea’s standalone sanctions against North Korea and the resumption of a now-shuttered joint industrial complex to pave the way for a thaw in cross-border ties. The South Korean Committee for Implementation of the June 15 [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — A majority of South Koreans agree on the need to declare a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, as proposed by President Moon Jae-in, a survey showed Wednesday. According to survey of 1,000 adults by the National Unification Advisory Council on Sept. 24 and 25, 67.8 percent said [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korean Embassies and diplomatic personnel are engaging in illicit financing activities to fund the country’s nuclear and other destructive weapons activities, a British government report has said. The British finance ministry’s National Risk Assessment of Proliferation Financing (PF) report said its hosting of the North Korean Embassy in [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea on Wednesday unveiled the development of a supersonic cruise missile to improve its maritime defense capabilities just days after the North fired a new long-range cruise missile in a sign of accelerating military competition between the two Koreas. According to the defense ministry, the state-run Agency for [...]